It is any virtual conflict initiated as a politically motivated attack on an
enemy’s computer and information systems. In simple words, cyber warfare is
the use of hacking to conduct attacks on a target’s strategic or tactical
resources for the purposes of espionage or sabotage.
Cyber warfare attacks can disable official websites, networks and also
disrupt or disable essential services, steal or alter classified data and
break down financial systems, among many other possibilities.

02. How does cyber warfare work?

Hackers that are in the military of a said state or hackers that are
sponsored by the said state attack computers and networks that are
involved with sensitive resources within a country. This procedure is
similar to how a hacker works normally, they collect information about
the system and find out loop holes and weak spots. The hackers then
gain control of the said system or destroy it.
If hackers simply choose to gain control, then they can read
privileged information not meant for them and they can exploit to gain
advantage. And also sabotage people in various ways, from blackmailing
them to luring them out of their security and killing them.
A good example of cyber warfare is in using DDoS (Distributed Denial
of Service Attacks) to shut down access to government websites and
social media, an effective tactic used by the Russians during the
South Ossetian War in 2008.

03.
Who does it target?

Will target any sensitive industry in your opponent’s infrastructure.
This means obvious stuff like the military and defense and weapons
manufacturers.
The worst part is that cyber warfare could target a country’s
population; the most important strategic asset of a country. A hacker
could launch terrorist attacks, i.e. doing scary things like hitting
major financial sectors and causing economic damage to the country’s
economic or abruptly terminating public communication.

04. Controversy over terms…

Eugene Kaspersky, found of Kaspersky Lab, concludes that “cyber
terrorism” is a better term than “cyber warfare”. He states that “with
today’s attacks, you are clueless about who did it or when they will
strike again. It’s not cyber war but cyber terrorism.”
In October 2011 the Journal of Strategic Studies, a leading journal in
that field, published an article by Thomas Rid, “Cyber War Will Not
Take Place” which argued that all Cyber-attacks motivated by politics
are merely sophisticated versions of sabotage, espionage, or
subversion and that it’s is highly unlikely that a Cyber war will
occur in the future.

Some experts, however, believe that this type of activity already
constitutes a war.

05. Protection against attacks

The most effective protection against Cyber warfare attacks is
securing information and networks. Security updates should be applied
to all systems -- including those that are not considered critical --
because any vulnerable system can be co-opted and used to carry out
attacks. Measures to mitigate the potential damage of an attack
include comprehensive disaster recovery planning that includes
provisions for extended outages.

06. Example of Cyber warfare:

• In 1998, the United States hacked into Serbia's air defense system
to compromise air traffic control and facilitate the bombing of
Serbian targets.

• In 2007, in Estonia, a botnet of over a million computers brought
down government, business and media websites across the country. The
attack was suspected to have originated in Russia, motivated by
political tension between the two countries.

• Also in 2007, an unknown foreign party hacked into high tech and
military agencies in the United States and downloaded terabytes of
information.

• In 2009, a cyber-spy network called "GhostNet" accessed confidential
information belonging to both governmental and private organizations
in over 100 countries around the world. GhostNet was reported to
originate in China, although that country denied responsibility.

Mandeera Karawita

Mandeera is an undergraduate of
Institute of Information and Technology following Bachelor in Software
Engineering and currently working as Intern - Information Security
Engineer at Sri Lanka CERT|CC

"....Sri Lanka CERT|CC conducted
Information security awareness sessions for all the SOS children villages in
Sri Lanka upon the request made by Mr. Lasantha Weligamage, the Assistant
Director of SOS Youth Facility, Piliyandala. The awareness sessions took place
in Galle, Piliyandala, Nuwara Eliya, Monaragala, Anuradhapura and Jaffna......"

'...Users who fall for the scheme are directed to a bogus Amex login
page (at http://amexcloudcervice.com/login/). Once they enter their user
ID and password, they are taken to a bogus page that ostensibly leads
them trough the SafeKey setup process....'

'....There have been many changes in Apple's new operating system, iOS10,
but one of the biggest changes has happened to Siri.

The digital assistant can now control third party apps, not just Apple's.
To find out which apps work with Siri, head to the Siri section under
"Settings" and then click on "App support." At the moment, users can do
things like order a ride with Lyft, send money on Venmo and dictate a
LinkedIn message....'

'....Explosion of data volumes. Interoperability of systems. Large
servers in the sky that can analyze enormous amounts of data, compute
complex algorithms in real time, and communicate in microseconds. Mobile
communication through devices that patients, providers and staff all
carry all the time. What does this all mean for hospital operations?
Based on working with dozens of hospitals and conversations with 100+
others, we think the near future of hospital operations is quite
exciting. Call it what you will - "Hospital 2.0," "No Waiting Rooms,"
"Hospital Operations Center" - the basic building blocks to enable the
future of hospital operations are already here....'

'"...Mari Frank is an attorney and certified privacy expert and the
author of the “Identity Theft Survival Kit,” “Safe Guard Your Identity,”
“From Victim to Victor,” and “The Guide to Recovering from Identify
Theft.” This column has been written on the behalf of the Visual Privacy
Advisory Council.....'

'...For as long as there have been technology certifications, IT pros
have debated their value. Some believe they're the key to a fatter
paycheck, while others contend that they're often not worth the paper
they're printed on. Others take the middle road and say they can be
valuable in the right circumstances, but experience is king.....'

"...Smartphones boasting “dual
cameras” are becoming more common, and news that they will feature on the
just-announced iPhone 7 Plus indicates their arrival into the mainstream.

But while dual cameras may stem from efforts to improve picture quality,
they have the potential to lead us down much more interesting paths: The
real story may be Apple is using dual cameras to position itself for the
augmented reality world ushered in by the Pokemon Go phenomenon....."

'...Most IT departments face the occasional spike in computing demand.
Sometimes they are predictable (a sports betting site knows what to
expect when the cup final is on, for example), and sometimes not..."